[Andrew22]

I'm in the process of building a CNC router and I'm having a hard time figuring out what motion control boards would be compatible with both Mach3 and LinuxCNC.

I'm looking for a high end board like an ehternet smoothstepper, but I haven't found any info regarding compatability with LinuxCNC. I want to find a board that's capable of running off of either as I'm somewhat familiar with Mach3 and a friend will give me his copy to use. I don't want to be stuck with Mach3 for too long though, as it's old software, and LinuxCNC seems like it is more robust and closer to an industrial grade control. I've got zero experience with it though, and I'd much rather transition rather than just jumping right in. I figure my best bet would be to use hardware that's compatible with both and see what works best for me. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[ger21]

I'm in the process of building a CNC router and I'm having a hard time figuring out what motion control boards would be compatible with both Mach3 and LinuxCNC

None.

They are not compatible with each other.

[1875]

What about parallel controllers?

[daniellyall]

the G540 can do both there is a list under the linuxcnc 2.7 instructions

[jfong]

The g540 is a 4 motor stepper driver, it's not really a motion controller like a smoothstepper is.

The last time I looked into this, Galil has some models that work with linuxcnc and Mach3. They are very expensive, even used on eBay. Support on both platforms may be little or none.

The only motion adapter I would consider for LinuxCNC is the Mesa, about $100. This is the one that Tormach uses in their turnkey Pathpilot/LinuxCNC computers that are shipped with the CNC machines. Lots of users and a controller board that is well supported. Mesa is not compatible to Mach.